United Methodist Church Westlake Village

Playing God: From Dinosaurs to Digital Intelligence

• United Methodist Church Westlake Village

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Have you ever wondered about the theological messages hidden within your favorite blockbuster films? This eye-opening exploration uses the Jurassic Park franchise as a springboard to examine one of humanity's most persistent temptations: playing God.

The dinosaur-filled adventures of Jurassic Park aren't just thrilling entertainment—they're modern parables warning us about the consequences of unchecked ambition. As Jeff Goldblum's character Dr. Ian Malcolm famously observes, "Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should." This critique of innovation without ethical boundaries connects directly to biblical wisdom found in the Tower of Babel story.

Drawing fascinating parallels between ancient scripture and contemporary concerns, we explore how God's response to humanity's tower-building ambitions wasn't merely punishment but potentially protection. When God scatters the people and confuses their languages after noting that "nothing would be impossible for them," we glimpse divine wisdom about the dangers of progress outpacing moral development. This ancient warning resonates powerfully in our age of artificial intelligence and genetic engineering.

The conversation takes an unexpected turn when considering whether technologies like AI represent modern Towers of Babel or potential Pentecost moments—where barriers between people are broken down rather than erected. Through this tension, we discover a framework for discernment based on the fruits of the Spirit and Micah's call to "do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God." These timeless principles offer guidance for navigating our complex technological landscape with both wisdom and grace. Join us for this thought-provoking journey through theology, pop culture, and the ethical dilemmas that define our modern age.

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Speaker 1:

We're starting a series, a fun series, to write us through the rest of the summer. I am a movie guy, I like watching movies, I like watching good TV, and so I thought I'm going to talk a little bit about some of the summer movies that have been going through just this year and, in particular, what I like to do. In fact, when I went to seminary to study to be a pastor, it wasn't to study to be a pastor. What I was really interested in is when you take mainstream commercial entertainment, the stories of our culture, and talk about how there's theology underneath all of it. We don't give it all the words all the time, we don't put Jesus and Christianity in it through and through, but the themes are very Christian more often than not, and I just found that so compelling, so interesting, and so, in that spirit, you're going to get me talking about movies for a few weeks.

Speaker 1:

Who saw Jurassic Park Rebirth? Okay, so a few of us went and saw it All right. Now, how many of you have seen every Jurassic Park movie? Just looks like three, three of us, four. Okay, we've got four of us who have seen everyone. How many loved everyone? They weren't all great, let's just say that out loud, but a few of them were just so good. The very first one. I remember going home and the way they had captured the reality of a dinosaur in modern day and how that kind of might have played out or might play out. I was just astounded at how real those dinosaurs felt, and so ever since then I've been kind of a fan. So I rode the bus and I've enjoyed it for the most part.

Speaker 1:

But let me tell you that the gist of the whole series is about our capacity to regenerate, recreate the dinosaurs from ages past. Right, we make them again and now they exist in the world that we are living in Now. 20 years ago or however many years ago, we thought. We thought, okay, that's a little far-fetched, but have you heard about them? Like, like, trying to recreate the dire wolf, right, this extinct species. Steven's saying no, we can't do it, but I have. You have heard of it then it's controversial. Now you know what? What Wednesday Bible study is about? It's me going hey, steve, what do you think? And him saying controversial. That was pretty much our whole comedy routine, which I enjoy. So, yeah, I mean this idea that we might figure out a way to use the DNA that still exists and be able to recreate these things doesn't seem as far-fetched as it seemed not too long ago. And so, as you can probably guess, as they recreate these dinosaurs, it collapses in absolute failure, mostly because we realize that our world is not built for these dinosaurs anymore. They can't exist in the world that we've evolved to be, and that's kind of the gist of every beings in the shoes, in the place of God, putting ourselves in a place where we are controlling how evolution works, where we are creating life. And it begs the question is that our place? Is that where we should be? And the Jurassic Park films would probably say, no, we shouldn't be in that world.

Speaker 1:

Some of you may remember this famous quote from the first film and I think I got a picture of it up here. Right, this is Jeff Goldblum as Dr Ian Malcolm, and he's sitting here processing in the very first film, as he's seeing these dinosaurs, sort of the ethical concepts, the ethical underpinnings of what's going on. As he's seeing these dinosaurs and he's doing math in his head and he says God creates dinosaurs, god destroys dinosaurs, god creates dinosaurs, god destroys dinosaurs, god creates man, man destroys God, meaning we take God's place and then man makes a stegosaurus Actually I think he says dinosaurs in the movies, but this picture I like and it said stegosaurus. So you know you do what you can do. So you know you do what you can do. But hopefully you can see kind of the dilemma that the movie is playing with this idea of what happens when we start doing what God's supposed to be doing, when we start getting into that realm.

Speaker 1:

The point really of the films is to show the hubris that we humans can demonstrate, the idea that our species might step into this thinking, this ambition, this creativity, but not think about the consequences. I might call it the dark side of ambition. We love the innovation, especially medical innovation. Right, there are things that we can do now, people that we are able to keep alive and have thriving lives because of our medical innovation, and we celebrate that. But there's a shadow side as well. Isn't there? This dark side of we're driving, and we celebrate that? But there's a shadow side as well, isn't there? This dark side of we're driving and we're driving, and when do we get to this place where we are a little too far over our skis, right, getting into places where we are not ethically prepared to deal with the realities that we ourselves have created. To me, it's the problem of playing God, and there was another good quote that kind of summed it up your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn't stop to think if they should, that they didn't stop to think if they should, kind of that sums up the whole dilemma of what they are working with.

Speaker 1:

Well, believe it or not, there is precedence for this question in our very scriptures, and it comes super, super early in Genesis. We're in Genesis 11. And it's this story of the Tower of Babel. Maybe you've heard of the Tower of Babel, or you've heard it metaphorically, or maybe you've even read the story, or you've heard it metaphorically, or maybe you've even read the story right, but it is a story that talks about this idea of our playing God, stepping into God's role as the story develops. Again, we're very, very early, and part of what our writers in scripture at this point are trying to capture is this idea of how did we go from a singular existence that the Bible understands to the broad existence of multiple languages and multiple cultures and all of that, and this is, in some ways, their way of describing how that happened. And at this stage, as they're building the tower, they're all speaking the same language. They're all understanding each other right, because this is the beginning of the society in the way that the ancients understood it happening. This is ancient science. Hey, well done, you got that picture up. See, that's exactly how it looked like. Somebody climbed up on a mountain, got a photo. Their camera with their phone Should have got a selfie. Make sure everybody knew they were there, right? So they people want to build this tower.

Speaker 1:

Now they're all united, they want to build this tower, they want to get up to some level of where God is, with two honest anxieties. One, they kind of want to make a name for themselves, and we could call that arrogant, or we could call that trying to stabilize themselves, get enough underneath them, enough power that they're not getting overrun all the time. But the second concern is that they are going to be scattered, they're going to get disunited and taken apart, where they won't have the full advantage of the full company of who they are so they can defend themselves. And so in this reality, in this environment, god comes down, and they make sure to say comes down, like God's still way above this to see what these humans are doing. And God gets concerned and he says this interesting phrase they all realize that nothing is impossible. That's God's voiced concern. They'll realize nothing is impossible. So God makes it so they can't understand each other. One more picture See, that's exactly what happened right there. I know that one made me giggle so I had to put it in. Makes it so they can't understand each other. And then their worst fears come true they are scattered by God.

Speaker 1:

It's an interesting story, isn't it? You know, it comes again very early on and we're talking about Genesis especially as being the story of God and humans and trying to figure out this relationship and how God's going to help humans be what God's hoping that humans will become. But it's a lot of trial and error, from creation to Adam and Eve, to Cain and Abel and then Noah, to Adam and Eve, to Cain and Abel and then Noah. And these are all stories, this cycle of God trying new things to make it work with humans and humans generally not getting it done right. But it lands us at this new stage, this new stage of God and the human relationship, and it brings me to mind of that quote, or what God says to the people, they'll learn nothing is impossible.

Speaker 1:

Now, isn't that what we like to tell our kids? Right, it's a positive thing. Nothing is impossible. We tell our kids that, even though we know it's not true. Right? My dad never said to me you can be an NBA star, right, let's get real. Right, some things are impossible and that's okay, you know. But you work hard, you be good, you'll like where you end up. But yeah, we say that phrase pretty frequently. We want kids to feel like, oh, the world is their oyster and you ought to get out there and do this.

Speaker 1:

So it's interesting that God says this. What kind of God says this? God ultimately scatters them, disables their capacity to build this tower. If you're like me, that strikes as a little bit odd. Now I've got this voice in my head. You know, my kid was getting a little bit arrogant, so I started teaching him math wrong just to humble him. Right, we don't hear that. That's not a story that gets told, right, it just. It seems odd until we look at the story from the lens of Jurassic Park. There's one more quote, and I didn't get it in a picture, but it's from the doctor in the newest version of these Jurassic Park stories. Dr Henry Loomis and he says it's a little longer quote dinosaurs are pretty dumb, right, and yet they survived for 167 million years. And we, almost 8 million strong geniuses, by comparison, only have about 200,000 years so far. But with our huge cranial cavities they're so smart we already have the capacity to annihilate ourselves. I doubt if we even make it to one million. You hear a little bit more of that lens helping us to understand.

Speaker 1:

Maybe God isn't necessarily trying to tamp everybody down, but God is trying to guide. God is trying to help us, not get in over our heads, right? Is it possible? Can it be possible that God is just doing all of this for our own good, creating boundaries to help ourselves, much as we would do with parenting or when we're mentoring somebody, don't we try to keep them away from danger, make sure that they succeed and move forward in their growth? I wonder if there's some space for humility in this story. Maybe it's good that God slows us down every now and again for our own good, but it's a tough nut to chew on, isn't it? I mixed my metaphors. Did you enjoy that? All the English majors just went, including me. No, it's a tough pill to swallow. There I got my metaphor correct.

Speaker 1:

This idea that maybe we shouldn't necessarily just go and do whatever we can just because we can, you know, it kind of leaves us in this place. What do we do in this place where maybe we shouldn't be moving with as much aggressiveness as we do? We've got this reality where we have these great tendencies, where we have these great tendencies, tendencies and ambitions to do great, great things and to evolve ourselves and our world. But we've also got these not-so-good tendencies that sometimes we don't always do what's good for the whole. And here we are in the middle of that world and we need to discern what is moral and ethical growth. When are we truly seeking a greater good and when is it just purely hubris, done for power we aren't able to wield effectively or, more importantly, morally? So in that journey of discernment, trying to figure out, okay, what are we supposed to be doing, god, I'm going to bring us back to Scripture.

Speaker 1:

You know, the Christian response to the Tower of Babel story comes in the Pentecost story, pentecost being the day that we celebrate the birth of the Holy Spirit. And some of you will remember the story from the book of Acts, where the disciples, with Jesus having been crucified and still even resurrected, but they're wondering what they're supposed to do now. Maybe this great thing happened, but not everybody got to experience it. It's really just them. What does God want them to do? When they're huddled up, maybe a little afraid that they're going to start getting hunted down, and in that anxiety, god comes to them and inspires some preaching, inspires a message, and here's the amazing thing People started to understand what they were saying, despite the multiple languages. You see the comparison we go from a Tower of Babel where they couldn't understand each other, and then the Holy Spirit comes and we are able to understand each other despite speaking multiple languages. You hear how that is an effective response to a certain extent. But here I got to tell you, thinking there and going there, I had my brain blow up this week. Are you ready for the shrapnel of that? Here is my brain blowing up this week.

Speaker 1:

We have what might be an example of a modern Tower of Babel at work right now and it comes in two little letters A and I. Are we ready for AI? Here's artificial intelligence. I could look at this and say you know what AI that's looking like? Tower of Babel, looking like we're trying to be bigger than we are, looking like we're going to get ourselves over our skis. We're going to get ourselves into trouble. We're not ready to deal with the moral and ethical consequences of what it means that these machines are able to do, with the capacity that they are able to do, the information that they're going to bring to us. That's the feeling most of us have, right.

Speaker 1:

Here's another thought, with Pentecost in mind or is AI, because of its ability to overcome language and bring knowledge, despite differences in cultures and language, bring knowledge to people in a way that we are able to unite in some really really unique ways and maybe even do some really really amazing things? Is AI the Holy Spirit? No, no, I'm out. Ai is not the Holy Spirit. But you hear how my brain blew up a little bit as soon as I was walking this journey. I'm like, well, wait a minute. Is that the Holy Spirit? Are we in the upper room sitting there? And then we come with ways of uniting the world? I don't know. So here I've left you. I've left you in a paralyzing space of oh my gosh, what am I supposed to do? Crazy pastor thinks AI might be the Holy Spirit Right. So here, let it not be said, I didn't leave you with some hope and some vision. Are you ready for this?

Speaker 1:

I invite you to remember last week's message with the title Look for the Fruits. Remember that from Galatians 5, look for the fruits. I'll even read it for you. By contrast, the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

Speaker 1:

If we are navigating this world, if we are navigating AI and we're trying to understand exactly where God is calling us, is this good innovation, ethical innovation, god, or are we getting in over our skis? Are we getting into places we can't deal with it? I invite you, look for the fruits, look for all of this fruit being produced by whatever that journey is. If you're working with AI, are you seeing love being built from what you're learning, by what you're sharing? Is there joy? Is there patience? Is there kindness being generated from your journey with all of this?

Speaker 1:

I'll invite you to look, too, at the Micah passage that we worked with a few weeks back Do justice, love, kindness, walk humbly with God. We are in this really complex space and the older I get, the more complex it feels. Is anybody with me? It just feels so complex. It just feels so complex, maybe, where we can put our heart, where we can put our actions, where we can, exactly what God is hoping that we're going to create, what God is actually hoping we're going to do. We look for the fruits, we look to be kind, we look to do justice, we look to walk humbly, Amen, amen.